Maxims And Opinions Of Field Marshal His Grace The Duke Of Wellington, Selected From His Writings And Speeches During A Public Life Of More Than Half A Century by Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington

A >> Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington >> Maxims And Opinions Of Field Marshal His Grace The Duke Of Wellington, Selected From His Writings And Speeches During A Public Life Of More Than Half A Century

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There is no instance of any country having maintained its strength or
its influence in its foreign possessions, or the respect of foreign
nations, during the existence of internal troubles and disturbance; and
there is no case of the existence, without such troubles, of a
Government consisting of King, Lords, and Commons, independently of each
other, and the members of the latter depending solely upon the popular
choice, and being delegates of the people. We have had an example in
England of a House of Commons which was independent of the influence of
the Crown; and of this House, turning the Spiritual Lords out of it,
murdering their Sovereign, and voting the House of Lords useless. I will
read your Lordships the account given by a man, who was knowing in his
time (Oliver Cromwell), of what this House became.

"The parliament, which had so vigorously withstood the encroachments of
the royal power, became themselves too desirous of absolute authority;
and not only engrossed the legislative, but usurped the executive power."

"All causes, civil and criminal, all questions of property, were
determined by committees, who, being themselves the legislature, were
accountable to no law, and for that reason their decrees were arbitrary,
and their proceedings violent. Oppression was without redress, unjust
sentence without appeal; there was no prospect of ease or intermission.
The parliament had determined never to dissolve themselves."

"At length the army interfered. They soon perceived that, unless they
made one regulation more, and crushed this many-headed monster, they had
hitherto ventured their lives to little purpose, and had, instead of
assuring their own and their country's liberty, only changed one kind of
slavery for another."

This is the account of the state of a house of Commons acting
independently of all influence; and of the state to which it brought the
country.

_October 4, 1831._

* * * * *

_Contempt of intimidation by popular meetings._

I do not deny that I always felt strongly the attempts that were made to
intimidate your Lordships by public meetings. For all such meetings, I
feel the greatest contempt; and I am perfectly satisfied that the house
is superior to any intimidation founded on the proceedings of any such
assemblages. I feel no concern for all those threats, whether proceeding
from Birmingham or elsewhere. I have always thought, and I think still,
that the law is too strong to be overborne by such proceedings. I know
further, that there does exist throughout this country a strong feeling
of attachment to the government of the country, as by law established. I
know that the people look up to the laws as the best means of
protection, and those laws they will not violate in any manner to
endanger the government of the country, or any of its established
institutions. I am afraid of none of these, but I will tell your
Lordships what I am afraid of, I am afraid of revolution, and of
revolutionary measures, brought in and proposed by his Majesty's
government. I assert, and I believe that history will bear me out in the
assertion, that there has been no revolution in this country, or any
great change, which has not been brought about by the parliament, and
generally by the government introducing measures, and carrying them
through by the influence of the Crown. I would therefore entreat your
Lordships to do all you can to defeat this measure--use every means of
resistance which the just exercises of your privileges will warrant; and
trust to the good sense of the country to submit to the legal and just
decision you come to.

_October 5,1831._

* * * * *

_Comparison of the Finance Administration of the Wellington with that of
the Grey government._

I believe we find ourselves in this singular situation: we have an
increased expenditure, (increased within this year,) and have, at the
same time, a reduction of taxation, and no overplus whatever (or one not
amounting to more than 10,000 l.) of revenue. I say we are in that
peculiar situation, because I put out of the question those occasions on
which ministers of the crown have thought it their duty to propose and
effect loans, to carry on the public service of the country. Even in
these cases, those who have made such propositions have thought it their
duty to provide a surplus over revenue, in order to meet the unforeseen
casualties in the amount of revenue, which every man knows must occur
in so large a revenue as this country has the happiness to boast of.
This principle of having a surplus revenue over the expenditure, has
been considered advantageous with a view to the diminution of the
national debt. I am aware that this is a part of the subject on which a
difference of opinion exists. I am aware that many great authorities are
of opinion that no surplus is necessary for the express purpose of
reducing the national debt, and I perfectly agree with them that it is
not desirable that a surplus should be created by borrowing, and thus
creating new liabilities for the purpose of getting rid of the old. But
I cannot look to what has taken place of late years, even in my own
time, when I filled the situation of first Lord of his Majesty's
Treasury,--cannot look to what took place then without seeing the
advantage of having an overplus of income over expenditure, such as
would tend to the gradual diminution of the public debt.

I am considerably within the truth when I state, that since the peace
the interest of the public debt has been decreased by an amount more
than sufficient to pay the interest of 100,000,000 l. of stock; and your
Lordships will therefore see that some surplus of revenue, in order to
lead to a diminution of the public debt, is highly desirable. I think it
is a principle of the financial policy of this country that there should
be such a surplus, and that it should be so applied. Besides, much of
the revenue of this country depends on the seasons, and almost all on
consumption; and the amount of consumption depends upon taste and
fashion; and the change of taste and fashion, and other circumstances
over which no man can have control, and which are liable to variations,
may tend to a variation in the amount of the revenue, which nothing can
provide against except a surplus revenue. It is on this principle that
the government to which I had the honour to belong proceeded.

We should not think that an individual provided for his expenses who
should leave a part of them to be paid within a future period, neither
can we think all the expenditure of the country is provided for, leaving
a part to be paid for in the next year. The sum expended for the service
of the year is the sum to be paid, whether within the year or at any
other period, for this sum provision ought to be made within the year,
or debt is incurred. It is a new principle introduced into the financial
system of this country; it is a principle which at any other time than
the present, would never have been listened to, much less tolerated by
parliament for a moment.

_October 17, 1831._

* * * * *

_King Leopold must be independent of Foreign Powers._

I entertain the highest respect for Prince Leopold, and I trust that
that Prince will take upon himself the character of an independent
sovereign, and I know that that illustrious person possesses all the
talents and disposition calculated to form a great and excellent
sovereign; but I must say, that in order to be so, he must be not only
independent of this country, and of the Germanic states, but above all
he must be independent of France.

_January 26, 1832._

_The Grey policy tends to War, Foreign and Domestic._

I say that the foreign policy of his Majesty's ministers is more likely
to produce war abroad than any other system; and in the same manner
their domestic policy is of all others, the best calculated to produce
war at home.

_January 26, 1832._

* * * * *

_Irish Agitation deprecated._

My Lords, the main cause of the present excitement is the encouragement
given in Ireland to agitators to disturb the country. I can tell the
noble Earl, (Grey), that so long as encouragement is given to agitators,
you may double and treble the regular army in Ireland,--you may heap
measures of severity upon measures of severity, but you will not succeed
in putting down agitation upon this question, or upon any of the others
which may follow it.

_February 27th, 1832._

* * * * *

_Tithes the most sacred kind of property._

A noble Lord, the other night, in discussing the question of tithes,
observed that the people of Ireland are ready to pay that for which
they receive value, to pay their rent, and to pay all the taxes on the
land, and that they wished not to deprive any man of his property. I say
then my Lords, is any property held so sacred by our laws as tithes? In
the first place, the King is sworn--his Majesty was sworn a few months
ago--to protect the property and rights of the clergy, above all classes
of men. I desire also, to bring to your Lordships' recollection, that in
two recent Acts of parliament, in which we conferred notable advantages
on the Dissenters from the Church of England, we endeavoured as far as
we might by oaths, to secure the property of the church. If any
principle, indeed, can secure property to any portion of his Majesty's
subjects, the property of the church ought to be safe. It is a principle
of the constitution that tithes, above all other property, should be
secured to the owner.

_February 27th, 1832._

* * * * *

_The Grey Government charged with encouraging Political Reform._

My Lords, I never have made, and I never will make, a charge which I am
not ready to repeat, and able to substantiate, and I will forthwith
prove that which the noble Earl calls upon me to explain. In doing this
I beg leave to remind your Lordships, that some months ago I suggested
to the noble Earl, (Grey) that an Act of Parliament, which had been
passed for the purpose of suppressing illegal associations in Ireland,
was about to expire, and I asked him, if he intended to propose a
renewal of that act. The noble Earl replied that he did; but my Lords,
you will recollect that parliament was dissolved without any further
notice of the act, and of course it expired. The result of this was,
that the noble Earl stated in the House, when it met again, that the
noble Marquis at the head of the Irish Administration felt that he could
carry on the government of that country without any additional powers;
and the consequences of the noble Earl having declined to apply to the
legislature for any authority beyond the existing laws were, that
agitation began again, and that meeting after meeting has been held,
from that time to the present moment. This is not all, my Lords; the
great agitator, the prime mover of the whole machinery, escaped the
execution of the sentence of the law in consequence of the expiration of
the Act of Parliament to which I have referred. Well my Lords, what has
since taken place. This very person, the great agitator, whom the
government had prosecuted to conviction, was considered to be a person
worthy of the honours which the crown could bestow, and he received the
highest favour which any gentleman of the Bar ever received from the
hands of the noble Earl and his government; he received a patent of
precedence, which placed him next the Attorney General, and above a
gentleman who was once Attorney General, but was still a member of the
same Bar. If this was not a premium given to that gentleman to continue
his course of disturbing the country, I do not know what else could be
so considered. I feel that no more effectual mode could be found to
encourage agitation than to reward the promoter of it. But it is not
alone in this respect that his Majesty's Government has encouraged
agitation. What was the meaning, I ask, of the friends of government
taking the course they have taken out of doors, with reference to the
Reform Bill? What was the meaning of the letter of the noble Lord in
another house, addressed to the Political Union of Birmingham, in which
that noble Lord designated the sentiments of noble Peers on this side of
the House as the "whisper of a faction?"--What was the meaning of two
friends of government collecting a mob in Hyde Park, and the Regent's
Park, on one of the days on which the House of Lords was discussing the
Reform Bill? What was the meaning of those individuals directing the
line of march of the assembled multitude upon St. James's, and
publishing their orders in the papers devoted to government? And what
was the meaning of the publications in the government newspapers,
libelling and maligning all those who opposed the Bill? What was the
meaning of all these deeds being allowed by government, and why did they
tolerate and abet them, unless they calculated upon some advantages to
themselves in encouraging such agitation? I don't accuse the noble Earl
of instigating those mobs--I do not mean to say, that he was delighted
at seeing my house assailed, or any other work of destruction
committed; but I say some of his colleagues, and some of the friends of
government, have encouraged and incited the people to works of violence.
I must say, I have long felt on this subject very strongly. I feel that
the country is in a most dangerous state. I find the country is in a
most dangerous state, on account of government not taking the proper
measures to put a stop to confusion and agitation; and on the contrary,
in place of putting a stop to such scenes, allowing some Lords of his
Majesty's household, to encourage and instigate the people to lawless
acts.

_February 27th, 1832._

[Earl Grey had risen and denied that the Government had encouraged
agitation upon which the Duke made the previous short but energetic
speech.]

* * * * *

_Mr. O'Connell ought not to have had a Patent of Precedence._

It has been urged, that professional honours should not be withheld from
a gentleman who is entitled to them, on account of political offences. I
beg to set the noble Lord right on that point. The offences of which Mr.
O'Connell was convicted, were not political or professional, but legal
offences. They were pronounced such by the law of the country; and it
was to an individual who had been convicted of such offences, that his
Majesty's Government thought it right to give a patent of precedence in
Ireland.

_February 27, 1832._

* * * * *

_Opinion of the "National" System of Education in Ireland._

I agree in opinion with the noble and learned Lord (Plunkett), who has
declared that opinion with so much eloquence, that any system of
education, to succeed, must be founded on religion; and that it cannot
stand on any other foundation. The noble and learned Lord has truly
said, that this is to be desired, not simply from the advantages to be
derived from religious instruction, but for the promotion of those
habits of obedience and discipline which it is necessary to instil into
the mind of youth. I admit that the system proposed by Ministers is
founded on, and justified by, the reports of the commissioners and of
committees of the other House of Parliament; but the doubt I entertain
is this--whether the system laid down in the reports, and in the letter
of the Right Honourable Secretary for Ireland, is a system which would
inculcate those habits of discipline and obedience which are required by
the noble and learned Lord, and which would alone satisfy my own mind,
that in adopting it we should be doing that which we ought to do: this
is my apprehension. What I feel is this--that there is much doubt
whether the new system of education in Ireland will apply to the
education of nearly 500,000 persons, in the same advantageous way as is
now the case with the existing Societies--the London Hibernian Society,
the Sunday School Society, and the Kildare Place Society. What I would
say is, that there is already going on a system of religious education,
extending its operation to nearer 500,000 than 400,000 persons--a system
of real religious education, founded on the Scriptures, which can be
interfered with by nobody--neither by priest nor by any other man--and
which is so directed by this Kildare Place Society, as not to give
offence to anybody; and now, when the Government is about to establish
another system, (which I have admitted they are justified by the reports
in doing), I doubt much whether it will not be attended with less
advantage than that which already exists.

I am, myself, by no means satisfied that the system which is to be
substituted is as good as that which it is proposed to abrogate. If the
system is to be changed, I consider that it would be better, perhaps, to
have separate schools for the Protestants and Roman Catholics. Although
I allow that this would be attended with many inconveniences, still I am
inclined to think it would be better than the scheme proposed.

I really cannot see the difference between public and private education;
or why causes of dispute should arise between two classes of persons, if
educated by favour of public grants, rather than between the same
classes if educated by private means. All classes of persons who are
educated together, here, by their private means, agree quite well
together, as Englishmen; and I do not see why they should not in like
manner agree, if they happen to be educated by public grants.

_February 28, 1832._

* * * * *

_Character of the Irish Agitation._

The present state of things in Ireland is to be attributed to the system
of agitation, established by persons who will never be quiet as long as
the noble Lord at the head of the Government shall permit them to
proceed. It is not, I repeat, to be attributed to the practices or
conduct of the clergy, or to the Tithe Corporation Act, or even to the
want of enforcing that Act, but to that system of agitation, combined in
the most artful manner, and carried on with a perseverance unequalled on
any other occasion; and the noble Lords may rely upon it, that the state
of things which now prevails in Ireland[15] will continue to exist even
after this measure shall have been adopted, if that system of agitation
is not put an end to.

[Footnote 15: Resistance to the payment of tithe.]

_March 8, 1832._

* * * * *

_Protection, not Free Trade, the Principle of our Commercial Law._

Nothing can be more absurd, than to assert that there is free trade in
this country; there is no such thing--there can be no such thing. Our
manufactures and our produce have been at all times protected. We have
always given protection to the productions of our own soil, and
encouragement to our domestic labours; and we have, therefore, rather
discouraged, than otherwise, the rivalry of other countries. That has
been our system; and I should be sorry to see any measure adopted by
this House, opposed to that system under which this country has so many
years thriven and prospered. We have always proceeded on the principle
of protecting our manufactures and our produce--the produce of our
labour and our soil; of protecting them against importation, and
extending our home consumption; and on that universal system of
protection it is absurd to talk of free trade.

_March 9, 1832._

* * * * *

_The Lord Chancellor's Patronage. Its Private Disposal Defended._

My noble and learned friend (the Earl of Eldon) has been attacked for
having, in the exercise of the patronage of his office, not overlooked
the interests of his own family. To be sure he did not, and he ought not
to have done so; if he had, he would only have been departing from the
practice of all his predecessors. Let me remind your Lordships, that for
at least a century and a half back, the Lord Chancellor and Judges have
invariably dispensed the patronage attached to their offices in favour
of their own immediate relations; so that my noble and learned friend,
in providing for his own family as well as he could, was only acting
according to the uniform and acknowledged practice of all his
predecessors. The fact is, that the office of Lord Chancellor would be
very inadequately remunerated, unless the individual filling it procured
the means of providing for his family; and I believe it will be found
out ere long, what with this inadequate remuneration, and what with
stripping off so much of the Chancellor's patronage, and what with the
surrendering up so much of his bankruptcy fees,--that the remuneration
will be so inadequate to the labour and change of habits, and expense
consequent upon the assumption of the office,--that few eminent
gentlemen at the bar will, in future, be disposed to accept of it.

* * * * *

For the reason by which I justified my noble and learned friend, I will
say that the noble and learned lord opposite, (Lord Plunkett) was
justified in the exercise of his official patronage. That noble and
learned lord has a large family, and was perfectly right in placing them
in those situations to which their abilities and pretensions were
adequate. The only blame in such a case would be if he placed them in
situations to which their abilities were not equal. I will therefore say
that the learned lord was perfectly justified in the course he has
pursued; and I will say more, that his high office and his great
intellectual influence, fully entitled him to expect that the
government, of which he was a member, should give his family a
preference in filling up any situations to which, as I have stated,
their abilities were equal. I agree with the noble Earl at the head of
his Majesty's government, in hoping that this will be the last we shall
hear of this senseless outcry against public men for this mode of
disposing of the patronage of office. The time of the house is but ill
spent with such discussions; indeed, I am sure that nothing can tend
more to injure its character in public estimation, than these
investigations of the family affairs of men in high stations; at all
events, they tend more to lower the house than benefit the public, and
the sooner we put an end to them the better.

_March 12, 1832._

_Peace with France desirable, but difficult to maintain._

There does exist in the minds of the people of France, a sentiment,
which their government at the present day are but too prone to flatter.
I allude to that morbid desire of extended conquest, which, at least for
the last forty years, has so much influenced the character and
proceedings of that people.

There is no man who would be more ready than I should in taking every
step calculated to promote a good understanding between that country and
this. I consider quite as much as the noble Earl (Grey) opposite can
possibly do, that every measure tending to that end is a measure of
necessity--is a measure of such urgency and importance, that I consider
it second only to the honour and interests of this country,--those I
take to be the very first objects to which a British Minister should
direct his attention, regardless of every consideration which might
interfere with them. Well then, admitting as fully as any noble Lord can
desire, that it must be at all times a leading object with this country
to preserve peaceful relations with France, I will tell the noble Earl
opposite, that if he would remain at peace with France, peace must be
preserved by this country in union with the other powers of Europe, and
not by this country singly. I tell him that the affair at Ancona is but
a trifling warning of that which will soon follow, unless a constant
system of precaution be kept up. I tell him that if that affair be
passed over without notice, new attempts will be made, every one of them
more and more dishonourable and disadvantageous to this country. When I
am told that we should not utter remonstrances against the French
government lightly, nor too readily impute a disposition to disturb the
amicable relations at present subsisting between the two countries, I
answer that no one more earnestly desires peace than I do. There is no
one entertains a higher estimate than I do of the resources--the
immensity of the resources--possessed by that country both in peace and
in war--no man living estimates more highly than I do the wisdom of her
statesmen and the skill of her generals--no man is more ready than
myself to concede to the French people the possession of a large amount
of talent and of virtue, of physical and of moral resources, and of all
that renders a state respectable or formidable in the eyes of other
nations. But in proportion as we admit these facts, we are bound to
watch closely that nothing be done or said derogatory from British
honour or injurious to British interests.

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